Question about gears and hills

[spokewench]

So this is my bike. It's a Lapierre, not sure of the model or anything. It's a women's bike. I just got it last summer. I don't know much about bikes, I just got it cuz it was pretty and I liked the frenchish name. My boyfriend and I took our bikes in to get a tune up a few weeks ago and the tech told me that looking at the gears he could tell that my bike is made for going fast, and not good for hills. This totally freaked me out! For one thing, I am soooo not fast. Also, my boyfriend and I are doing the STP (Seattle to Portland- 202 miles in 2 days) in July, which has 30 miles of uphill terrain, with an uphill altitude of 1,951 feet. Can you tell from that if it's a big hill? Haha I feel so dumb, I'm just scared that I'm going to have to ride up some giant hill and die because my bike sucks at hills!

Hi Hayley. Well, if you are doing 202 miles by July, you better start riding some hills before you go and putting some mileage in! Once you start doing this, you will see pretty quickly if your bike is geared to high for you.

The bike tech (mechanic) who worked on your bike probably noticed that your bike is geared high not low. What this means is that the cassette on the back (on your rear wheel) has a bunch of round gears with teeth on them. The more teeth, the lower the gear (or easier) the gear. He probably noticed that you do not have a very large gear in the back.

The opposite thinking works for the chain rings up front (where you chain runs over). The smaller these are, the lower the gear.

You can change out all of this on your bike. You can add a cassette with gears with more teeth; and you can even change your chain rings to put a larger one on the inside. I cannot tell you what would work for you since I do not know what you have and cannot tell what the cassette looks like on your bike since it is on the opposite side of the bike than your picture.

Any reputable bike shop can explain these things to you and recommend gearing that would complement your riding style, i.e. beginner

Hope this helps spoke

[hayleymajayley]

hah yes I do need to get my butt in gear and get out and ride! I've been going to the gym 3x a week all winter, so I'm not in terrible shape. We had some suprise snow this morning, so I'm hoping my plans to finally get out and ride this weekend aren't completely ruined! Good to know about changing cassettes, I didn't even think of that :] Thanks for the help!

[Grog]

Just go and ride your bike on hills. See what happens.

If it's not working out for you even after you've trained quite a bit, and learned more about gearing and other technical issues (from this wonderful forum, among other sources) then you can get a different cassette (the cogs at the back) for example to help you go up hills.

Pretty bike. Lapierre is an important bike maker in France, sort of like Trek in the USA.

[alpinerabbit]

that's a triple crank - don't see why this bike should not be going uphill.


STP has a total climb of 1900 ft? If so - if you can do two centuries back to back by the time it happens, that will be a joke.

[spokewench]

Alpine You have better eyes that I have - I can't see the 3 rings in front!

Do you have to rub it in that i'm getting old?

[Jiffer]

1950 feet is not a lot of climbing at all, especially for a ride that long. It's hard to find just a century, even, with that little bit of climbing. At least around So. Cal. Believe me, I've tried! I did over 3200 feet of combined climbing just this weekend during two rides lasting 30 and 40 miles each. My husband did more cause he loves to climb

You should get a bike computer. Something that tells you grade and elevation, so you can get a feel for how much 1900 feet of climbing is. There are many to choose from, but Garmin is a popular one. That's what my husband and I use and several of our friends. But you could probably find a less expensive one. I'd ask around here what people use and like to make sure you don't end up with something you're not happy with. There are several things you can gauge with a bike computer. Speed, average over all speed, distance, time, cadence, grade, total distance ascended and descended, etc. Some may not have grade and elevation, so make sure you get that if you want it.

My husband added a bigger gear on my bike, so I can climb a little easier than I used to. I'm so slow on hills I need all the help I can get! But I'm getting stronger and need that biggest gear less and less.

My friend is doing STP, by the way, and tried to suck my husband and I in. We decided against it for various reasons, but may do it in the future.

Good luck!

[ttaylor508]

Looks like a triple to me too which means you have granny gears perfect for climbing. There really isn't any big hills on the STP. Most of the hill are just rollers and as long as you get out and ride you should not have any problem. If you are new to riding, you will want to learn how to shift properly in anticipation for the hills ie. shift down before you need to rather than under power when you start climbing which could cause you to drop the chain.

[alpinerabbit]

Looks like it's true:

* Total distance (miles) 202.25
* Uphill distance (miles) 30.87
* Uphill altitude (feet) 1,951
* Maximum altitude (feet) 463
http://www.cascade.org/EandR/stp/STP_Details.cfm

You better start training :-) - upping your distance.

What do you ride in? Centuries don't go well with sneakers, and maybe, just maybe you could try going clippless. Think double the muscle at your disposal.
Also, I like the adjustable-angle stem but I don't quite like the slightly downward-tilting saddle (although you might be fine with that....)

[Eden]

Yeah - STP is pretty flat as far as centuries go. One or two longer climbs (the "big hill" is 1 mile long and about 7% - a little over 300 feet of elevation gain). There's very, very little in the way of steep climbing.

As far as the bike goes - sounds like the mechanic was a bit full of it... in any case unless he knows you and your riding style intimately he hasn't anything to judge you on as far as the gearing you personally will need for hill climbing... Sounds like he looked, saw a woman, and decided you needed even lower gearing than you already have... I'm guessing a bit, but your bike probably has Tiagra on it, and could possibly have a 12-23 tooth rear. That's not super low, but with a triple on the front, you still have several easier gears than you'd have on a standard double running a 12-27. If you find you do need or want some easier gears it's possible to go down to a 26 with a SRAM road cassette, lower with a mt cassette - but that could require a different derailleur.

[aicabsolut]

Alpine You have better eyes that I have - I can't see the 3 rings in front!

Do you have to rub it in that i'm getting old?

You've gotta look at that nice long cage rear derailleur.

I don't see how this bike wouldn't have enough gears for that ride. I think your mechanic was teasing you...or an idiot. I dunno, is it heavy?

I second the suggestion that for long rides, you should consider going clipless.

[Possegal]

STP has a total climb of 1900 ft? If so - if you can do two centuries back to back by the time it happens, that will be a joke.

Yeah, I admit I don't know much at all about biking, and always feel I know less when I read here, but I do know that the 45 mile livestrong ride in Philly has 3,300+ ft of climbing. So 1900 ft over 200+ miles doesn't seem like much at all. But what do I know. Maybe it has 19,000 ft? The century in Philly has nearly 9,000 ft of climbing. Could it be a typo? My eyes can barely read the board, let alone see the chains on the bike in the picture.

[Zen]

... The more teeth, the lower the gear (or easier) the gear....
The opposite thinking works for the chain rings up front (where you chain runs over). The smaller these are, the lower the gear.

I still have problems understanding this. Can you rephrase it?
Something like
REAR-
more teeth=lower/easier
FRONT-
????????

[ttaylor508]

I still have problems understanding this. Can you rephrase it?
Something like
REAR-
more teeth=lower/easier
FRONT-
????????

I am so not a techy when it comes to gears, but I think it is easiest to explain:
REAR: more teeth easier
FRONT: Less teeth easier

So if you were in the rear gear with the most teeth and the front gear with the least teeth, that would be your easiest gear. Right? Feel free to correct me if I have this wrong

[Zen]

Oh thanks.
I'll have to put that on an index card and figure out my own way of remembering.

[LilBolt]

As others said...go ride some hills. The steepest hill on the route isn't far from you, and will make a great training ride. If you have a triple & a 12-25, and learn to relax, sit and spin, you'll get up the hill when you are good and ready. STP is mostly rollers. And someone else mentioned your saddle angle. If it works for you, great, but you may want to consider moving a little bit at a time to be closer to level if you have any discomfort. There is an amazing amount of good info on this forum about saddles...for good reason. Just keep poking around and searching here.